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Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership by Blanchard, Ken, Zigarmi, Patricia, Zigarmi, Drea (1999) Hardcover
- GenresLeadership
Hardcover
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About the author
Kenneth H. Blanchard
315 books1,857 followersKen Blanchard, one of the most influential leadership experts in the world, is the coauthor of the iconic bestseller, The One Minute Manager, and 60 other books whose combined sales total more than 21 million copies. His groundbreaking works have been translated into more than 27 languages and in 2005 he was inducted into Amazon’s Hall of Fame as one of the top 25 bestselling authors of all time.
Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.
When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.
Ken is also the cofounder and chief spiritual officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies®, an international management training and consulting firm that he and his wife, Margie Blanchard, began in 1979 in San Diego, California.
When he’s not writing or speaking, Ken also spends time teaching students in the Master of Science in Executive Leadership Program at the University of San Diego. Ken can be found at www.kenblanchard.com.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 17, 2024
As a leader, you have one job: help your people win.
And because every person who works for you needs help in a different way, you can't afford to employ a single leadership style.
Your leadership style has to only and exactly what the person you're leading needs based upon the tasks they perform.
That's where Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard is helpful. His Situational Leadership is a leadership approach that combines directive and supportive behaviors based upon the needs of the person you're leading and the task they're performing.
Blanchard blends those two behaviors into different combinations to present four leadership styles:
1. Directing. This is one way communication that is ideal for enthusiastic beginners - inexperienced people who are are enthusiastic and committed and have the potential to be self-directed.
2. Coaching combines directing and supporting and is best for disillusioned learners - people who are gaining competence but have become intimidated by the size of their learning curve.
3. Supporting is for experienced people who need more confidence or motivation, but not direction.
4. Delegating is for people with high confidence and commitment, where you're turning over responsibility for day-to-day decision-making and problem-solving to the person doing the task.
Remember that the level should always be assessed with a specific goal or task in mind. As Blanchard writes, it's "not just different strokes for different folks, but different for the same folks depending on the task." How do you determine the appropriate level? By looking to the two functions of performance:
1. Competence. A function of knowledge and skills, which can be gained from education, training, and/or experience.
2. Commitment. A combination of confidence (self-assuredness) and motivation (enthusiasm for doing the task well).
So, what does that mean for you as a leader? How do you help your team win?
You do it by applying the appropriate leadership style to consistently increase the competence and confidence of your people. You want to move them up to the less time-consuming styles of supporting and delegating while still achieving high quality results.
Blanchard lays out five steps to develop a person's competence and commitment around a specific task:
1. Tell them what to do
2. Show them what to do
3. Let them try
4. Observe performance
5. Praise progress
Be sure you aren't hanging out in the first two steps for too long. Leaders do only what their people can't yet do for themselves. Helping them win does not mean doing their work for them.
As a leader, you must also constantly develop yourself. Succeeding at situational leadership requires consistently improving on the three key leadership skills:
1. Flexibility. The ability to use all of the four different leadership styles.
2. Diagnosis. The ability to determine the leadership style appropriate for each person and each task.
3. Partnering for Performance. The ability to work with the person to develop them.
Remember: If you aren't growing and developing, your people won't either. Are you developing your own leadership skills along with the leaders in your business?
And because every person who works for you needs help in a different way, you can't afford to employ a single leadership style.
Your leadership style has to only and exactly what the person you're leading needs based upon the tasks they perform.
That's where Leadership and the One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard is helpful. His Situational Leadership is a leadership approach that combines directive and supportive behaviors based upon the needs of the person you're leading and the task they're performing.
Blanchard blends those two behaviors into different combinations to present four leadership styles:
1. Directing. This is one way communication that is ideal for enthusiastic beginners - inexperienced people who are are enthusiastic and committed and have the potential to be self-directed.
2. Coaching combines directing and supporting and is best for disillusioned learners - people who are gaining competence but have become intimidated by the size of their learning curve.
3. Supporting is for experienced people who need more confidence or motivation, but not direction.
4. Delegating is for people with high confidence and commitment, where you're turning over responsibility for day-to-day decision-making and problem-solving to the person doing the task.
Remember that the level should always be assessed with a specific goal or task in mind. As Blanchard writes, it's "not just different strokes for different folks, but different for the same folks depending on the task." How do you determine the appropriate level? By looking to the two functions of performance:
1. Competence. A function of knowledge and skills, which can be gained from education, training, and/or experience.
2. Commitment. A combination of confidence (self-assuredness) and motivation (enthusiasm for doing the task well).
So, what does that mean for you as a leader? How do you help your team win?
You do it by applying the appropriate leadership style to consistently increase the competence and confidence of your people. You want to move them up to the less time-consuming styles of supporting and delegating while still achieving high quality results.
Blanchard lays out five steps to develop a person's competence and commitment around a specific task:
1. Tell them what to do
2. Show them what to do
3. Let them try
4. Observe performance
5. Praise progress
Be sure you aren't hanging out in the first two steps for too long. Leaders do only what their people can't yet do for themselves. Helping them win does not mean doing their work for them.
As a leader, you must also constantly develop yourself. Succeeding at situational leadership requires consistently improving on the three key leadership skills:
1. Flexibility. The ability to use all of the four different leadership styles.
2. Diagnosis. The ability to determine the leadership style appropriate for each person and each task.
3. Partnering for Performance. The ability to work with the person to develop them.
Remember: If you aren't growing and developing, your people won't either. Are you developing your own leadership skills along with the leaders in your business?
September 8, 2025
My book is called Leadership and the One Minute Manager: A Situational Approach to Leading Others. I don't see that on Goodreads, so I'm guessing it's the updated version of this book, based on the authors listed. The book reads like video a boss makes you watch before starting an entry level job. Very fake dialogue, however, surprisingly informative
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews